Antioch mall will be reborn as open-air 'lifestyle center'

It took 28 years for Antioch Shopping Center to return to its roots as an open-air mall. Now, as one of Kansas City's oldest malls, it's ready for a $75 million makeover.

In March, the Kansas City Council approved a plan to raze the existing 800,000-square-foot, multilevel mall and rebuild it as a 450,000-square-foot open-air "lifestyle center."

The mall will remain open through the end of the year, with demolition beginning in 2007. Construction should begin during the next two years, said Bill Schultz of RED Brokerage LLC, the company that implemented the plan to revitalize the center.

Once redeveloped, the lifestyle center will be anchored by an existing Sears Roebuck & Co. store and a few other large tenants. Four junior anchors and several smaller tenants, including free-standing stores and restaurants, are expected to fill out the final development.

The new configuration also will include 4 acres of greenspace and will be accessible from multiple entry points.

Antioch Shopping Center opened in 1956 as an open-air mall. It was expanded several times and enclosed in 1978. As enclosed malls began their decline in the late 1980s, other newer developments farther north undercut the mall's traffic. Antioch Center's current occupancy rate is about 30 percent, Schultz said.

New York-based Eastbourne Investments Ltd. bought the property in 2002 from Curry Investment Co. of Kansas City. The company has worked with RED Brokerage to secure $30 million in tax increment financing toward the project. Much of that money, which the Kansas City Council approved in March, will finance infrastructure and housing improvements in the surrounding economically depressed neighborhood.

Those improvements should spur more retail development and help boost the area's viability, said Deb Hermann, a city councilwoman whose district includes the shopping center.

"I think everyone knew that at some point we had to do something with Antioch," she said. "This will definitely be a shot in the arm."

Antioch Shopping CenterValue: $75 millionLocation: Northeast corner of Antioch and Vivion roads in the NorthlandPlayers: Kansas City-based RED Brokerage LLC, New York-based Eastbourne Investments Ltd.Description: Demolition of the 800,000-square-foot mall will begin in 2007. Redevelopment into a 450,000-square-foot "lifestyle center" will begin in within the next two years.